NPP Foot Soldiers Gives Nana Addo Up To Monday To Retract Abeiku Santana’s Appointment. The Board of Trustees for the National Covid-19 Trust Fund has appointed popular broadcaster Abeiku Santana as an ambassador for the fund. In an appointment letter, the broadcaster, with the Despite Media group, is to use his influence to raise funds to support the government’s efforts at fighting the pandemic.
The Board of Trustees, which is chaired by former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo receives contributions and donations from the public to assist in the welfare of the needy and the vulnerable. The other members of the Board are Archbishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Mr Jude Kofi Bucknor, Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, Mrs Elsie Addo-Awadzie, Dr Ernest Ofori-Sarpong, Dr Tanko. Mr Collins Asare will act as Secretary to the Board.
Inaugurating the Board last year, President Akufo-Addo noted that, since the outbreak of the virus in Ghana, especially during the course of last week, organisations and individuals have made donations, with others wanting to find out how they can also contribute to the cause.
“I felt that the best way was to establish a public trust so that the monies that come do not get intermingled with Government money and all of those problems. A public trust that is to be managed by an independent body of trustees, so that people will see that these monies are being properly accounted for and properly deployed,” he said.
Footsoldiers of the ruling NPP Government are disappointed following an appointment by the Government tasking Abeiku Santana as the ambassador for the COVID-19 trust fund. Most members of the party especially the youth are not happy about the appointment suggesting the teaming youth who sacrificed for the party deserve better.
Alliance For Footsoldiers Advocacy (AFFA) has noted with concern the letter circulating about Abeiku’s appointment as the Ambassador for the COVID-19 trust fund and have registered their displeasure through a statement.
READ BELOW A STATEMENT BY THE NPP YOUTH WING:
“While we acknowledge the urgent need for the government to tap into the competence and experience of knowledgeable people in the Creative Arts sector to complement its efforts in combating the deadly pandemic, it is equally important for the appointing authority to be wary of dubious and selfish characters gallivanting the corridors of power. If the Board is apolitical as has been bandied about, then what is the legitimate basis of Abeiku Santana, a known NDC member’s appointment?
The COVID-19 National Trust Fund established by an Act of Parliament, (Act 1013) is to among other things “complement the efforts of the government to combat COVID-19 pandemic, by providing an avenue for well-meaning individuals, groups and corporate bodies to contribute or donate money, and or resources that may be required to combat COVID-19.”
To the extent that the Ambassador of the Fund shall play the role of a “mobilizer”, soliciting funds from the aforementioned outfits, we need persons who believe and share in the vision of the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government. Abeiku Santana’s ideologies and public pronouncements in recent times are in sharp contrast with the visions and policies of this government. It is also trite knowledge that individuals associated with the NDC have a bad track record in handling finances and Abeiku is no exception.
During the early stages in the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ghana, Abeiku Santana’s party, the NDC, formed a parallel COVID-19 Technical Response Team which specialized in destructive criticisms instead of partnering the government to solve a problem. That obnoxious team, unprecedented in the history of Ghana’s multiparty democracy since 1992, had the full support and blessing of the now appointed Ambassador for the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.
AFFA is by this release calling on the Board of Trustees of Ghana’s COVID-19 National Trust Fund to withdraw the Ambassadorial appointment of Abeiku Santana as soon as possible or have itself to blame in the coming days.
Long live AFFA
Long live Ghana
Signed
Sir Obama Pokuase
Executive Secretary”
